International Danube Day 2023
Let’s keep the Danube blue!
World Water Day 2023
Let’s accelerate change!
“Make the change you would like to see in the world! Every drop/gesture counts!”
The future of the planet depends on us!
The above message is proposed by UN-Water to the entire community (organizational, scientific, population, but also governmental institutions worldwide) on the occasion of World Water Day 2023 (March 22). It aims to promote debate and information on the water and sanitation crisis, as well as the attitude, solutions that we must find and adopt in order to prevent, where appropriate, mitigate the effects that it generates in particular on less developed peoples, whether through insufficiency and lack of access to public services, or poor water quality, including pressure from pollution factors.
The general slogan ”
Let’s accelerate change!”
is complemented and nuanced by a more detailed one:
“Make the change you would like to see in the world! Every drop/gesture counts!”
Through the website dedicated to World Water Day www.worldwwaterday.org, the UN presents us what the global water and sanitation crisis means and warns that:
- In recent decades, almost half of the wetlands around communities have disappeared, increasing the risk of flooding;
- Agriculture and industry in the area would take over 80% of the water available;
- Due to climate change, drought would increasingly affect water resources and food supplies. Flooding would endanger water and sanitation facilities, contaminating water resources;
- It is unlikely that there is a cooperation agreement between that community and neighbouring communities on consumption sharing and water protection;
- The poorest and most vulnerable community members, disproportionately affected by the crisis, would have the most to fight to attract the attention of authorities to improve their water and sanitation services.
This year’s message stems from an old story of Peru’s Quechua people trying to extinguish a huge forest fire by carrying a few drops of water in its beak. When asked how she thinks she can put out the forest fire, she replies, “I’m doing my part. Every drop counts!” The campaign launched by Un-Water encourages people to be like the hummingbird, that is, to do everything in their power to help solve the water and sanitation crisis.
As you well know, in 2015, humanity committed to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 as part of the 2030 Agenda – making a commitment to good quality water and safe sanitation by 2030.
However, the world community notes with concern that we are far from achieving this goal. Billions of people and communities are unable to develop as the rights of all those who must have access to water and sanitation are not yet met. The new agenda, namely to change the way we use, consume and manage water in your daily life, represents the commitment that each of us can make to protect the water resource in terms of quality and quantity. This is in addition to those on a larger scale by governments, businesses, organisations, institutions and associations that will form the Water Action Agenda to be launched at the UN Water Conference in New York on 22-24 March 2023 – the first event of its kind in almost 50 years.